The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager brought a number of his trusted assistants with him from his former clubs and has further beefed up the backroom team at the Etihad over the course of his three seasons.

While long-serving No.2 Domenec Torrent left towards the end of last season to take charge of sister club New York City FC, the circumstances that saw Mikel Arteta stay in Manchester rather than succeed Arsene Wenger at Arsenal have ensured that there has not been too much change over the course of the three seasons.

Here is a look at the men Guardiola trusts to help prepare his team for the challenges that the season and every game present for them.

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The former Everton and Arsenal manager took on his first coaching role when he joined the Pep Team in 2016, and his reputation rose so rapidly that he was considered as the next Arsenal boss last summer.

Despite being overlooked by Unai Emery, it was his tactical innovation that helped City to beat the Gunners on the opening day of the 2018/19 season and he has been credited with helping transpose Guardiola's message and work individually with players including Raheem Sterling.

Since Torrent's departure, Arteta's prominence has increased and he led the team for a Champions League game with Lyon in September 2018 while Guardiola served a touchline ban.

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta celebrate City's goal (Image: Getty)

Rodolfo Borrell

The first coach Lionel Messi had at Barcelona, Borrell encountered Sterling during his time as the head of coaching at Liverpool's academy under Rafael Benitez before moving to City in March 2014 a few months after leaving Anfield.

Borrell became a key link between academy and first team at the Etihad when he moved up to become part of Guardiola's squad in 2016 and continues to be, helping the development of young defender Eric Garcia for instance.

Along with Arteta, Borrell is one of the key figures involved in preparing the team for games and the manager praised their work on the training ground ahead of the recent win at Burnley.

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Officially the director of first-team management, operations and support, former water-polo superstar Estiarte serves as Guardiola's eyes and ears in the club.

The two are usually found close to each other around matchdays - one of Guardiola's superstitions is to hug his friend before every game - and he is seen as somebody the players can approach about anything.

"When I'm going through a difficult period, maybe even struggling with self-doubt, he is there for me. And he's there to enjoy the good times as well of course," said the manager in the Marti Perarnau book Pep Confidential.

Carles Planchart

Performance analyst Planchart has a key role using video to help the team identify situations that can help them in games.

As he explained at a tactics forum recently, a positional weakness in Jorginho spotted from analysing previous games was then drilled in training before leading to a goal when the teams met in the Community Shield.

Planchart has worked with Guardiola for more than a decade and remains crucial to the operation at the Etihad.

Lorenzo Buenaventura

Another to have worked with the manager at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Buenaventura is responsible for the fitness of the players. Since arriving in Manchester, the manager has stressed that slacking will not be tolerated and warned his squad after winning the title in 2018 not to think they would find things as easy defending their title.

Because of the shared philosophy, much of the fitness work revolves around the ball with the rondo exercises a staple at the club. If any player is not putting the effort in, Buenaventura will know and, therefore, so will Guardiola.

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A man steeped in the history of Manchester football, Kidd has been on the coaching staff at City for a decade and is still an invaluable part of the club as he brings all of his experience as a player and coach.

Still popular with the senior players, Kidd also makes sure he helps out in any way he can around the club: "A big strength of a manager is delegation and that was a great thing for me. There's no task for me that's menial," he said in 2018.

Xabi Mancisidor

The goalkeeping coach that joined the club when Manuel Pellegrini joined the club in 2013 stayed on for Guardiola and has continued to excel working with the last line of defence.

Richard Wright also works with the first team after spending a year as academy goalkeeping coach.